Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 21, 2002
Thousands March in Anti-Nuclear Protest in France
Thousands of people from more than a dozen countries took part in an anti-nuclear protest march in eastern Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament.
Thousands of people from more than a dozen countries took part in an anti-nuclear protest march in eastern Strasbourg, home to the European Parliament.
Demonstrators taking part in Sunday's protest formed a human chain, donned gas masks, staged a symbolic "die-in" and blared an alarm signal to evoke the response to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the world's worst nuclear accident. The explosion sent a radioactive cloud across much of Europe.
The march was organized by a French anti-nuclear organization that claims 650 local associations as members. Activists and politicians from environmentally focused parties across Europe also took part.
The activists want a full accounting of the effects of nuclear energy on the environment and studies into ways of ending reliance on nuclear power, and to stop new nuclear power plant programs.
Organizers said at least 10,000 people participated, while police put the number at 3,300.
Most were from France, which has 20 nuclear power plants and gets three-fourths of its energy from nuclear energy.
A delegation of anti-nuclear activists was to meet Tuesday with European Union Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, according to march organizer Reseau Sortir du Nucleaire, or "Out of Nuclear Network."